As I see it: We lost some good people

Capt. Fred Davis

Published 8:00 pm, Thursday, July 9, 2009

Have you heard this phrase a lot on TV recently, “Now back to our regularly scheduled programming?” It seems there has been a lot more special programming lately during the loss of some of our best entertainers.

The first entertainer we lost was Ed McMann, a regular on late night TV (of course that was when I stayed up that late). Stations were packed with clips from Ed’s past such as; Ed knocking on a door and when an elderly lady answered he said, “Congratulations, you’ve just won a million dollars in the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes.” The lady didn’t recognize Ed and slammed the door in his face, to the delight of viewers.

The clips from the Johnny Carson show were enough to make anyone laugh. One recounted the time an animal got loose and ran toward Johnny who jumped into Ed’s arms. There were others from the annals of “Carmack the Magnificent” that were hilarious. McMahon commented on his function on the late night circuit in his autobiography, “Laughing Out Loud.” “My role on the show never was strictly defined. I did what had to be done when it had to be done. I was there when he needed me, and when he didn’t I moved down the couch and kept quiet. … The most difficult thing for me to learn how to do was just sit there with my mouth closed.”

Yes, they were a great pair as they played off each other with perfect timing.

Regular programming came to a halt when it was announced Farrah Fawcett had passed. If you don’t recall, she was a very attractive young lady who was cast as one of Charlie’s Angels back in the ’70s. Her show was a favorite of most young girls; they wanted to be Charlie’s Angels when they grew up.

Farrah’s family wanted to keep her memorial service private and, so it was, but the reverence was short lived when the really big breaking news hit. Michael Jackson, known as the King of Pop had died unexpectedly. Perhaps one of the best known entertainers ever, Michael was, in my opinion, a master of his profession. It’s sad that in his personal life he appeared to be such a confused, troubled young man. The media hounded him and reported on his every move and stories of his activities were constant. To ever know which were true would be near impossible.

Michael’s fans, as we are all learning, were legion and spread throughout the world. It was reported he had just finished planning his next tour and his followers were clamoring for tickets. His loss was a major shock to the world of entertainment. Questions and mystery surrounding Michael’s life and death will likely never be answered, and a replacement to equal him will never be found. Many entertainers have tried without success to copy him and failed.

As the death notices kept bleeping across the TV, Michael was soon joined by yet another great personality, Karl Malden. Oddly enough he and Michael both spent their early years in Gary, Indiana. Most of us best remember Malden as the American Express guy saying, “Do you know who I am?” and an ad that ended with the phrase, “Don’t leave home without them.”

Malden appeared in dozens of films including “Streetcar Named Desire,” for which he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1951 and “On the Waterfront” with Marlon Brando, who became one of his best friends. His greatest fame came on TV as Detective Mike Stone in “The Streets of San Francisco” with Michael Douglas. Malden and his wife, Mona Greenberg, celebrated 70 years of marriage in 2008. He was 97 years old when he died.

As I see it, we lost some good people the past couple of weeks.

Capt. Fred Davis is a retired charter captain and nationally published author of boating articles. His “As I See It” appears Fridays in the Tribune and Boat Smart articles